Never Stop Learning, Trying and Dreaming Big
Never Stop Learning, Trying and Dreaming Big
To Man Fei's Story
Faculty of Education
PGDE
“Liberal Studies enables students to gain awareness as a global citizen, not only knowing the facts but more about value education,” said TO Man Fei, currently a secondary school L.S. teacher, who has completed the Postgraduate Diploma of Education (PGDE) programme in HKU. The incumbent duty of a teacher, according to her, is to facilitate student’s learning by constantly trying interactive teaching pedagogies in a traditional classroom setting. This teacher reminisced of her personal learning experiences to explain why she is always thinking out of the box.
Last year, the then postgraduate student, joined the University Scholars Leadership Symposium (USLS). Nurturing creative thinkers in social development, this leadership conference aimed to instil servant leadership in the minds of future leaders. Building schools for the socially segregated minorities, communicating with the expelled refugees as well as cleaning the rivers in the neighbourhood, TO emphasised the importance of hands-on experiences, “Instead of merely thinking of a solution in the classroom and asking someone else to implement it for us, the idea of servant leadership expects participants to experience and to serve.”
“She teaches because she learns, and she learns because she teaches.”
As a teacher, she obtained much inspiration from the sharing of Geraldine Cox, the founder of Sunrise Cambodia, a village for those underprivileged children. Living in the danger of wars, threats and forces, Cox remained steadfast in protecting the children and providing them with the best education. Those children, now all became professionals and contributed back to the orphanage. “The huge inspiration from Cox’s sharing is that one shall never underestimate the impact we could have on others.” This explains why she is always keen to improve reality.
TO described herself as a constant learner from great minds as she always appreciates how her fellow peers are courageous in pioneering new ideas, “I remember a team of university students from Singapore managed to design a robot that can clear the garbage in the sea in a very efficient way. That’s how they apply their specialities to make a change.”
On the way of improving the status quo of the local educational system, this teacher well knows that she cannot stop learning, trying and dreaming big. She teaches because she learns, and she learns because she teaches.
Amadeus Cheung
Year 4, Faculty of Law
January 2020